Texas Gun Rights

ATF’s Gun Owner Registry Must Be Destroyed, Not “Reformed”

Chris M — Fri, 15 May 2026 20:48:54 +0000

By Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights

The ATF is trying to dress up a national gun owner registry as “records retention.”

Don’t fall for it.

As part of its latest rulemaking scheme, the ATF is proposing changes to how long gun dealers must keep firearm transaction records, including records the ATF collects when a gun dealer goes out of business.

That may sound like boring paperwork. It is not. This is the backbone of a federal gun owner tracking system.

Every time a law-abiding American buys a firearm from a dealer, they are forced to fill out ATF Form 4473. That form ties a citizen’s name, address, date of birth, and firearm transaction information to a government record. And when a dealer goes out of business, those records are shipped off to the ATF.

That is how the registry gets built.

Then the bureaucrats swear up and down it is not a registry while they sit on mountains of gun owner records for decades.

Texas Gun Rights is sounding the alarm because ATF’s proposed rule does not go nearly far enough.

Yes, the rule may roll back Biden’s insane “keep the records forever” policy. Good. But returning to 20 or 30 years of record retention is not victory — it is the same exact policy Barack Obama gave us.

Under this proposal, gun dealers could still be forced to hold firearm transaction records for decades. Then, after those dealers go out of business, ATF could keep those records for additional decades.

That means information on law-abiding gun owners could sit in federal hands for up to 60 years.

Sixty years.

That is generational surveillance, not “temporary recordkeeping.”

And this danger is getting worse by the day.

A new Firearms Research Center working paper warns that modern artificial intelligence could allow the federal government to derive “registry-equivalent knowledge” from existing firearms records without ever creating a traditional registry at all.

In other words, even if ATF claims its records are not searchable by name, artificial intelligence could make that excuse obsolete by extracting, connecting, and inferring gun ownership from records the government already holds.

That is exactly why these records must be destroyed, not “managed.”

And I do not care what the lawyers at ATF call it. When the federal government collects and preserves records that can be used to identify who owns firearms, where they bought them, and when they bought them, that is a gun registry.

The gun confiscation lobby always tells us the same thing: “It’s just paperwork.” “It’s just background checks.” “It’s just dealer records.” “It’s just a database.” “It’s just for tracing.”

Right.

And every time gun owners believe that lie, the federal government builds another piece of the machine they will use against us later.

The National Firearms Act. The Gun Control Act. The Brady Act. NICS. Form 4473. Out-of-business records. ATF databases. Digital tracking systems.

This is not random. This is the federal gun control machine. And if that machine remains intact, the next anti-gun administration can weaponize it all over again.

That is why Texas Gun Rights is not asking ATF to make the registry a little less ugly. We want it dismantled. We want the records destroyed. We want the retention period reduced to ZERO.

Because the correct amount of time for the federal government to preserve records on law-abiding gun owners is no time at all.

ATF’s own historical position undercuts the idea that decades-old records are some magic crime-fighting tool. The ATF previously acknowledged that trace usefulness drops sharply over time, especially after 10 to 15 years, and they also admitted to Congressman Michael Cloud that it has “no ability to determine” whether crime-gun traces lead to successful prosecutions.

So let’s stop pretending this is about public safety.

It is about control.

It is about preserving the infrastructure of a national gun owner registry so the federal government has the records it needs when the gun confiscation lobby finally gets the votes to come after semi-automatic firearms, magazines, private transfers, and everything else they have been drooling over for decades.

Texas gun owners should not accept a softer version of Biden’s registry scheme. We should not accept an Obama-era status quo. We should not accept 30 years. We should not accept 20 years.

We should demand the whole system be ripped out by the roots.

The ATF opened a public comment period, which means gun owners have a chance to put their opposition into the official record.

So please, submit a comment using our pre-drafted message below, telling the ATF this registry must be destroyed, not reformed.

Copy the Following Comment to the ATF

You can paste your comment in the comment box at this link.

I strongly oppose ATF’s proposed rule on Firearm Records Retention Periods (RIN 1140–AA95).

Returning to a 20-year or 30-year retention period is not going back far enough. That simply restores a failed status quo held under the Obama Administration.

ATF should use this rulemaking to dismantle the registry infrastructure altogether, and set the retention period to ZERO, especially for FFLs that go out of business.

The federal government has no business forcing gun dealers to preserve firearm transaction records for decades, and ATF has no business maintaining out-of-business dealer records in a way that allows the agency to compile, preserve, or search records of law-abiding gun owners.

ATF Form 4473 records contain sensitive personal information about Americans who are exercising a constitutionally protected right. When those records are kept for decades and later transferred to ATF, they become the building blocks of a national gun owner registry.

That is unacceptable.

The Second Amendment protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. That right is undermined when the federal government maintains systems that can be used to track gun owners, monitor lawful firearm purchases, or preserve firearm transaction records for future enforcement campaigns.

Texas Gun Rights will keep me informed of your actions.

You can paste your comment in the comment box at this link.

—

Destroy the records. End the registry. Protect the Second Amendment.

The ATF is hoping gun owners are asleep. They are hoping this sounds too technical. They are hoping you ignore it.

Don’t.

Submit your comment above. Tell ATF to destroy the registry. And chip-in below to help Texas Gun Rights continue hammering the federal gun control machine until it is dismantled piece by piece.

The Next Gun Registry Won’t Be a List. It’ll Be an AI Model.

TXGR Staff — Fri, 15 May 2026 20:43:46 +0000

Texas Gun Rights warns artificial intelligence could turn ATF’s 4473 stockpile into the shadow registry Congress banned

Congress banned the federal government from creating a national gun registry long ago.

Now the question is whether artificial intelligence could allow the government to build one anyway.

Not by creating a database labeled “registry.”

Not by passing a new law.

Not by admitting what they are doing.

But by feeding existing government records into AI systems capable of extracting, connecting, and inferring who owns what.

That should scare every gun owner in America.

A new working paper from the University of Wyoming Firearms Research Center warns that modern artificial intelligence may render the federal gun registry ban obsolete unless Congress acts.

The paper argues that AI could create “registry-equivalent knowledge” from lawfully held federal data without the government ever building a traditional registry at all.

In plain English: the government may not need to build a registry if AI can infer one.

And the ATF is already sitting on the raw material.

ATF Is Sitting on a Mountain of Gun Owner Records

ATF currently holds hundreds of millions of firearm transaction records from gun dealers that went out of business.

The paper cites approximately 921 million digitized firearm transaction records, and notes the number has likely grown because ATF continues processing millions of pages of dealer records every month.

These records include the kind of information gun owners should never want centralized in Washington:

Names.
Addresses.
Dates of birth.
Firearm descriptions.
Serial numbers.
Dealer information.
Transaction records.

ATF’s defense has long been that these records are not a registry because they are not searchable by purchaser name.

That excuse was weak before.

With AI, it may become laughable.

“Not Searchable” Is Not Good Enough Anymore

ATF has argued that its digitized records are not a registry because ordinary search functions are disabled.

In other words, the agency says it may have the records, but it supposedly cannot just type in your name and search them like a normal database.

That is the kind of Washington technicality gun owners are sick of hearing.

The paper explains why that defense is breaking down. Modern AI systems do not need a clean, traditional, searchable database to extract information. They can process document images, recognize text, identify patterns, connect records, and generate structured outputs from messy data.

So the real question is no longer whether ATF has a database with a search bar.

The real question is whether the federal government can use AI to obtain the same practical result.

If AI can take scanned Form 4473s and out-of-business records, extract names and firearm data, connect those records with other federal systems, and produce ownership predictions, then the government has created the functional equivalent of a registry.

Call it whatever you want, it is still an illegal registry of gun owners.

Registry-Equivalent Knowledge

The working paper uses the phrase “registry-equivalent knowledge” to describe the danger.

That means a government system may not look like an old-fashioned registry, but it can still produce the same result.

For example, AI could potentially help the government identify firearms likely owned by a specific person, generate lists of probable gun owners in a geographic area, or connect a firearm or serial number to a likely owner outside the traditional trace process.

That is exactly the kind of power Congress meant to forbid.

Congress did not ban gun registries because it hated filing cabinets, congress banned gun registries because government lists of gun owners are dangerous.

They are dangerous whether they are built by hand, stored in a database, or inferred by an AI model.

“All Government Data” Means Gun Records Too

This danger becomes even more serious when combined with the federal government’s broader push to integrate massive data sets into AI systems.

The paper discusses federal AI policy moving toward broad government-data ingestion, including statements from White House technology officials about feeding government data into AI models.

The concern is simple: ATF is a federal agency, and ATF records are government data. Unless firearm transaction records are specifically walled off, they could be swept into broader AI infrastructure.

That cannot happen.

No federal AI project should be allowed to ingest, train on, analyze, structure, or infer firearm ownership from Form 4473s, out-of-business dealer records, NICS metadata, multiple-sale reports, eTrace data, NIBIN records, or NFA data.

Gun owner records should not be treated like ordinary government paperwork.

They are records tied directly to the exercise of a constitutional right.

The Law Must Catch Up

Federal law already says the government cannot create “any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions” under 18 U.S.C. § 926(a).

But Congress wrote that language in 1986.

Back then, lawmakers were thinking about paper files, mainframes, and searchable databases. They were not thinking about AI models capable of reconstructing firearm ownership through inference, aggregation, image recognition, and record linkage.

The paper argues that this is exactly the gap Congress must close. The law should cover not just formal registries, but any computational process that gives the government registry-equivalent knowledge.

That means no AI model.

If the system can tell the government who likely owns which guns, it should be treated as a prohibited registry.

A Software Toggle Is Not a Safeguard

One of the most disturbing points in the paper is how fragile the current supposed safeguard really is.

ATF’s position largely rests on the idea that its digitized records are not searchable by purchaser name.

But the paper notes that if the underlying records already contain the data, then the searchability problem may be more like a software configuration issue than a true legal barrier.

That is insane.

The Second Amendment cannot depend on Adobe settings.

Gun owners should not have to trust that federal bureaucrats will behave because a search function is disabled or a file is stored as an image.

If the government has the records, and modern AI can extract the data, then the threat exists.

The only real solution is to destroy the records and prohibit AI inference from firearm transaction data altogether.

This Is Why ATF Records Retention Must End

This is also why the current ATF records-retention fight matters so much.

The longer ATF keeps these records, the more dangerous they become.

In the past, the danger was a paper registry, then it was a searchable database, and now it is AI inference.

The gun confiscation lobby does not need to win all at once. They just need to keep the records, centralize the data, wait for the technology to improve, and let the federal gun control machine do the rest.

Texas Gun Rights is not waiting for that to happen.

We want these records destroyed, we want ATF’s out-of-business record stockpile dismantled, and we want firearm transaction records walled off from federal AI systems.

Congress needs to update the law so “any system of registration” includes AI-generated registry-equivalent knowledge.

And the federal gun control machine needs to be ripped out by the roots before the next anti-gun administration gets its hands on it.

Help Texas Gun Rights keep fighting to destroy ATF’s gun owner record stockpile, stop AI registry schemes before they begin, and dismantle the federal gun control machine.

Massie Bill To Expose NICS Failures Passes House

TXGR Staff — Fri, 15 May 2026 20:39:39 +0000

H.R. 2267 could help shine a long-overdue spotlight on false denials, demographic bias, and the failures of NICS

The U.S. House just passed Congressman Thomas Massie’s H.R. 2267, the NICS Data Reporting Act of 2026, and gun owners should pay close attention.

The bill, co-sponsored by Congressman Ben Cline and Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, would require the Attorney General to submit an annual report to Congress detailing demographic data on Americans who are denied firearm purchases through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, better known as NICS.

That report would include data broken down by the reason for the denial, including race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, age, disability, average annual income, and English language proficiency, if available.

It would also include the same demographic data for individuals whose NICS denials were later overturned on appeal.

In plain English: Massie’s bill forces the federal government to start showing Congress who is being denied, why they are being denied, and which denials are later proven wrong.

That matters.

Because NICS is not some clean, harmless “instant check” system like the gun confiscation lobby pretends.

It is a federal gun ban registry that has wrongly blocked law-abiding Americans from exercising a constitutional right for decades.

NICS Is Broken

During floor debate, Congressman Massie explained that the NICS system may be producing racially biased outcomes because the system can flag innocent Americans who share names, or similar-sounding names, with prohibited persons.

He warned that Black Americans may be three times more likely to receive a false denial, and Hispanic Americans may be twice as likely to receive one, compared to White Americans.

That should alarm everyone.

The Second Amendment does not belong only to Americans with uncommon names.

It does not belong only to Americans who can afford lawyers.

And it does not disappear because a federal database is sloppy.

Massie also pointed out that there have been millions of denials since the system was implemented, but only a tiny fraction result in federal convictions. In one year, he said there were over 100,000 denials but only 12 federal convictions.

A False Denial Is Still a Gun Ban

The gun confiscation lobby loves to hide behind the word “background check.”

But when a law-abiding American walks into a gun store, fills out a Form 4473, passes every legal requirement, and still gets denied because the federal government’s database spits out the wrong answer, that person has been denied a constitutional right.

Not delayed.

Not inconvenienced.

Denied.

And if the only way to fix the problem is to file an appeal, navigate a federal bureaucracy, and possibly hire lawyers, then the government has effectively turned the Second Amendment into a privilege for people with enough time, money, and patience to beg for permission.

Massie made that point clearly on the House floor, saying that when someone has to spend a lot of money to exercise a constitutional right, that person is effectively being deprived of that right.

He is right.

What H.R. 2267 Would Do

H.R. 2267 does not abolish NICS, and it does not even directly reform NICS.

But it does something important: it forces sunlight onto the system.

The bill requires annual reporting to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on who NICS is denying, why they are being denied, and who is later proven to have been wrongly denied through the appeals process.

The bill also requires that data to be broken down by the reason for the ineligibility determination.

That is important because the federal government already collects enormous amounts of information through the gun purchase process.

But when gun owners ask how often the system gets it wrong, who is harmed, and whether certain groups are being disproportionately denied, suddenly Washington hides behind the curtain.

Massie said the purpose of the bill is not to collect more information on prospective gun buyers, but to report aggregate data the government already has so the system can be examined statistically.

Even Democrats Admitted the Data Matters

The bill passed the House by a voice vote, surprisingly with bipartisan support.

Rep. Deborah Ross supported the bill on the floor, saying there is “absolutely no harm” in seeking demographic data to determine whether the government is working fairly.

She also acknowledged Massie’s concern that Black and Hispanic men may be more likely to experience false denials because of shared names and over-incarceration patterns.

That should tell gun owners something.

Even the people who worship at the altar of “background checks” know this system may have serious problems.

The difference is that Texas Gun Rights is willing to say the quiet part out loud: the problem is not just bad data. The problem is NICS itself.

The Real Goal: Abolish NICS

Let’s be clear.

Texas Gun Rights’ ultimate goal is not to make NICS “fairer,” make the federal gun ban registry more efficient, or put a nicer coat of paint on a system that should never have existed in the first place.

The ultimate goal is to abolish NICS.

NICS is part of the federal gun control machine that turns a God-given, constitutionally protected right into a permission slip controlled by Washington bureaucrats.

And Republicans helped build and expand it.

John Cornyn, in particular, has spent years making this broken system worse.

Cornyn backed the so-called Fix NICS scheme, which expanded and strengthened the flawed federal gun ban registry.

Then he helped Joe Biden pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun control package Biden bragged was the most significant gun control law in decades.

And every time Republicans like Cornyn expand NICS, they give the next anti-gun administration more tools to deny gun purchases, expand prohibited-person categories, incentivize gun confiscation schemes, and weaponize federal databases against law-abiding Americans.

Massie’s H.R. 2267 will not solve all of that by itself.

But if passed into law, it could help shine a massive spotlight on the false denials, demographic bias, sloppy database matching, and due process nightmares baked into NICS from the beginning.

And that spotlight can help move us closer to the goal of abolition and ending the federal gun ban registry once and for all.

Help Texas Gun Rights expose the federal gun control machine, defeat weak Republicans who expand it, and fight to abolish NICS once and for all by chipping in below.

TXGR’s Former Chairman Now Helping DOJ Fight D.C. Gun Bans

TXGR Staff — Fri, 15 May 2026 20:17:13 +0000

Texas Gun Rights says the federal government is finally starting to treat gun rights like civil rights

The Department of Justice just put Washington, D.C.’s unconstitutional gun ban regime directly in the crosshairs.

And it’s about time.

In its First Amended Complaint, the Trump DOJ is targeting D.C.’s bans on AR-15-platform rifles and suppressors, arguing both violate the Second Amendment and should be blocked by the courts. The complaint names Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Police Department, and Acting Police Chief Jeffrey Carroll as defendants.

That is not some small technical filing.

That is the United States government telling one of the most anti-gun cities in America that gun rights are civil rights, and local politicians do not get to criminalize commonly owned firearms and hearing protection devices just because they hate the Second Amendment.

D.C.’s Registration Trap

D.C. does not even have the courage to simply say, “We ban AR-15s.” Instead, they run the ban through a registration trap.

D.C. makes it illegal to possess a firearm unless it is registered with police. Then D.C. refuses to issue registration certificates for so-called “assault weapons,” including AR-15-platform rifles.

The DOJ says the combined effect is a ban on possessing AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles in the District. Anyone convicted of violating that ban can face a $2,500 fine and up to one year in jail.

In plain English: register your gun or become a criminal, except they will not let you register the gun.

That is the kind of gun confiscation scheme Texas Gun Rights has been warning about for years.

The DOJ complaint also takes aim at the phrase “assault weapon” itself, noting it is not a technical firearms-industry term, but a politically charged label.

Exactly right.

“Assault weapon” is not a serious legal category. It is propaganda cooked up by anti-gun activists to scare people who do not understand firearms.

The AR-15 Is Commonly Owned. Period.

The numbers destroy D.C.’s argument.

According to the DOJ complaint, at least 28 million AR-style semiautomatic rifles were in circulation as of 2021. Roughly 2.8 million entered the market in 2020 alone. Studies cited in the filing estimate that between 16 million and 24.6 million Americans own or have owned AR-style rifles.

These are not exotic weapons.They are not rare.

They are not fringe.

They are among the most commonly owned firearms in the country.

The lawsuit notes AR-style rifles are widely owned for lawful purposes, including recreational target shooting, home defense, hunting, defense outside the home, and competitive shooting.

The complaint also cites Supreme Court opinions recognizing AR-15s as commonly available semiautomatic rifles and “the most popular rifle in the country.”

And despite the Left’s hysteria, AR-15-type rifles are not commonly used by criminals.The DOJ complaint cites FBI data showing that in 2019, only 364 homicides were known to involve rifles of any type.

By comparison, 6,368 involved handguns, 1,476 involved knives or cutting instruments, 600 involved hands and feet, and 397 involved blunt objects.

So why does D.C. want AR-15s banned?

Anti-gun politicians care about control, not crime.

Suppressors Are Hearing Protection, Not Contraband

The same goes for suppressors.

D.C. does not merely regulate suppressors. It categorically bans them.

That is insane.

Suppressors are already regulated under the National Firearms Act. To acquire one, a citizen must buy it through a licensed dealer, submit federal paperwork, provide personal information, submit fingerprints, provide passport-style photos, pay applicable fees, pass an ATF background check, and wait for approval before taking possession.

That process is already absurd.

But D.C. goes even further and bans them outright.

Why?

Because the gun confiscation lobby has spent decades lying to the public about suppressors, pretending they are Hollywood assassin tools instead of what they actually are: hearing protection devices.

The DOJ complaint says roughly six million suppressors are registered in the United States as of April 2026.

It also cites former ATF Deputy Director Ronald Turk, who said suppressors are rarely used in criminal shootings and should not be viewed as a public-safety threat.

In 2017, ATF reportedly recommended prosecutions in only 44 suppressor-related cases on average per year.

Texas Gun Rights President Chris McNutt said the D.C. laws show exactly how ridiculous the gun control agenda has become.

“Treating suppressors like machine guns is one of the dumbest things the federal government has ever done,” said Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights.

“Suppressors are hearing protection devices. Period. They protect shooters, hunters, instructors, families, and everyone else on the range. This and AR-15 bans are nothing more than political theater from politicians who hate gun owners and believe the Second Amendment is irrelevant.”

McNutt continued:

“The Second Amendment protects every firearm and firearms accessory. Any law saying otherwise needs to be ripped out by the roots.”

Gun Rights Are Civil Rights

The legal angle here is just as important as the target.

The DOJ is not merely saying D.C. passed a bad law. The DOJ is arguing that when MPD enforces D.C.’s unconstitutional bans, officers are carrying out a pattern or practice of law enforcement conduct that deprives citizens of rights protected by the Constitution.

That claim is brought under 34 U.S.C. § 12601, a civil-rights statute that allows the Attorney General to seek relief when government authorities engage in law-enforcement patterns or practices that violate constitutional rights.

That is explosive.

For decades, the Left treated the Second Amendment like a second-class right.

Now DOJ is saying what gun owners have known all along: gun rights are civil rights.

Texas Gun Rights’ Barry Arrington Is on the Case

And yes, Texas gun owners should notice the name at the bottom of the filing.

Barry K. Arrington, Acting Chief of the Second Amendment Section.

Arrington recently stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Texas Gun Rights to help lead this fight from inside the DOJ Civil Rights Division.

Now, Barry’s name is on a lawsuit asking a federal court to declare that enforcing D.C.’s AR-15 and suppressor bans deprives citizens of their Second Amendment rights and to enjoin D.C. from enforcing those bans.

That matters.

Because for far too long, the Civil Rights Division was weaponized by the Left to advance every politically correct cause under the sun, while the right to keep and bear arms was treated like an afterthought.

Now, the DOJ is finally beginning to act like the Second Amendment belongs in the same civil-rights conversation as speech, religion, due process, and equal protection.

Good. Now Move Faster.

But let’s not pretend the job is done.

This lawsuit is a good sign that things are finally moving in the right direction at DOJ and ATF.

But the pace needs to keep increasing, and fast.

The federal gun control machine is still standing.

The National Firearms Act is still standing.

The ATF is still standing.

The registration schemes are still standing.

And if the next anti-gun administration takes power before this machinery is dismantled, they will use every inch of it against law-abiding gun owners once again.

That is why Texas Gun Rights will continue demanding more than slow-walked reform, more than symbolic lawsuits, and more than press releases.

Texas Gun Rights is demanding action, bans being struck down, suppressors treated like the hearing protection devices they are, and AR-15s recognized for what they are: commonly owned firearms protected by the Second Amendment.

And the federal gun control machine must be dismantled before it can be weaponized again.

The DOJ has taken an important step, but now it needs to keep moving faster, harder, and without compromise.

Help Texas Gun Rights keep the pressure on until every unconstitutional gun ban, registry scheme, and ATF abuse is ripped out by the roots. Chip in today.

Texas Runoffs Could Decide Fate of Radical National Gun Grab

TXGR Staff — Mon, 11 May 2026 19:41:18 +0000

The gun confiscation lobby is done playing defense.

After years of trying to sneak pieces of their agenda through Congress one bill at a time, anti-gun Democrats are now pushing a coordinated package of federal legislation that would dramatically expand federal gun control, nationalize “Red Flag” gun confiscation laws, and strip gun owners of their rights without due process.

And unless gun owners wake up and fight back in Texas this year, these bills could have a clearer path to becoming law next year.

At the center of the push are three major federal bills now moving in Congress: S. 4339, H.R. 7599, and S. 889.

Together, they represent one of the most aggressive gun control pushes in recent memory — and they’re already gaining hundreds of co-sponsors.

Federal Gun Confiscation Without Criminal Convictions

H.R. 7599 — the “Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act,” would create a nationwide federal “Red Flag” gun confiscation system allowing courts to order the seizure of firearms from Americans who have never been convicted of a crime.

Under the bill:

Firearms could be confiscated through emergency ex parte hearings conducted without the gun owner present;

Gun owners could lose not only firearms, but ammunition and carry permits;
Orders could be initiated by family members or law enforcement;
Federal courts could issue firearm prohibitions based on allegations of dangerousness rather than criminal convictions.

S. 889 takes the scheme even further by creating a federal infrastructure to pressure states into expanding Red Flag laws nationwide, tying those orders directly into the federal NICS background check system and forcing states to recognize firearm confiscation orders issued elsewhere.

And S. 4339 — a massive omnibus gun control package filed in the Senate modeled after the package that passed in Virginia — piles on even more restrictions, including expanding the federal gun registry, a semi-auto ban under the guise of an “assault weapon” ban, ghost gun crackdowns, federal storage mandates — in addition to national Red Flag provisions.

Taken together, the message from Washington Democrats is unmistakable:

They are not interested in stopping crime, they are interested in disarming the American people.

Texas Gun Owners Are Not Immune

Many Texas gun owners wrongly assume these kinds of laws could never affect them — especially because Texas has banned statewide Red Flag legislation, thanks to the pressure from Texas Gun Rights members and supporters.

That assumption is dead wrong.

TXGR warns that federal legislation would bypass many other state protections entirely — and anti-gun activists are counting on weak Republican turnout and political complacency to make establishment Republicans cave under pressure once again.

“We’ve seen this movie before,” McNutt said. “When gun owners stay home, weak Republicans panic, wave the white flag, and start negotiating rights away while Democrats keep pushing harder. That’s exactly why these elections matter.”

The May 26 Runoff

Texas Gun Rights says the fight starts in the May 26 runoff election — and continues into November’s midterm elections.

The organization argues that turning out pro-gun voters now is critical to building the kind of political momentum necessary to stop federal gun control before it becomes reality.

That’s why Texas Gun Rights PAC has endorsed:

Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate
Chip Roy for Attorney General
Bo French for Railroad Commissioner
Thomas Smith for Criminal Court of Appeals

According to TXGR, these candidates are best positioned to energize and mobilize pro-gun voters heading into November and help defeat the national gun ban agenda before it gains more ground in Washington.

“Gun owners cannot afford to sit out these elections thinking Texas is automatically safe,” said Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights. “The federal gun confiscation agenda is accelerating, and if anti-gun politicians regain power next year, these bills are ready to go. And as Texas goes, so goes the nation.”

Texas Gun Rights says the answer is simple: organize, vote, and fight back now — before these bills ever reach a president’s desk.

Chip in today to help Texas Gun Rights expose gun grabbers and defeat the gun ban agenda.

Texas Gun Rights Hosts Weatherford Reception Honoring Chip Roy, Endorses Roy for Attorney General

TXGR Staff — Mon, 11 May 2026 19:31:33 +0000

Texas Gun Rights recently hosted a reception in Weatherford, the home of Texas Gun Rights, honoring Congressman Chip Roy for his years of service as one of the most stalwart defenders of the Second Amendment in Congress.

Roy has built a reputation in Washington as one of the most outspoken pro-gun fighters in the entire country, consistently standing against federal gun registration schemes, Red Flag Gun Confiscation, unconstitutional ATF abuses, and the endless attacks on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms coming from the gun confiscation lobby.

“While plenty of Republicans talk tough during campaign season, Chip Roy has the record to back it up” Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights said.

Roy voted against the Cornyn-Biden Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, and he’s opposed federal gun registries under the guys of so-called “universal background checks.”Roy has also supported national constitutional carry efforts, defended veterans from being stripped of their gun rights by bureaucrats, and he’s supported deregulating suppressors and dismantling the NFA.

That is not a RINO record; that is one of the strongest pro-gun records in Congress.

That is why Texas Gun Rights PAC officially endorsed Chip Roy for Attorney General of Texas in recent weeks.

In the primary, Texas Gun Rights PAC endorsed Chip Roy, Mayes Middleton, and Aaron Reitz — three of the four candidates in the Republican Primary — because all three were strong conservatives running against Joan Huffman, the only real RINO in the race and someone who has consistently been a thorn in the side of gun owners.

Mayes Middleton had been a legislative ally of Texas Gun Rights in Austin, but the runoff changed when millions of dollars in fake attack ads from West Coast elites and the Middleton campaign began flooding Texas, trying to mischaracterize one of the most conservative, pro-gun members of Congress as a “RINO.”

Texas Gun Rights President Chris McNutt said the decision to enter the runoff was not made lightly.

“Mayes has done good work in the Texas Legislature, and we appreciate that. But when the runoff turned into a dishonest smear campaign against one of the most proven conservative fighters in the country, Texas Gun Rights had an obligation to set the record straight.”

McNutt continued:

“We were prepared to remain neutral in this runoff. But when one of the strongest pro-gun warriors in America is being falsely smeared as a RINO, we are not going to sit on the sidelines and let the grassroots be lied to.”

The attacks against Roy have become increasingly desperate.

Instead of debating the actual record, anti-Roy forces have relied on selective clips taken out of context and twisted narratives to fool grassroots voters into believing Roy is something he is not.

The truth is simple: Chip Roy is one of the most conservative members of Congress, one of the strongest defenders of the Second Amendment in America, and one of the few Republicans willing to fight when weak Republicans are ready to fold.

“Texas does not need an Attorney General who wants to play nice with the establishment. Texas needs a fighter. Texas needs someone who will continue the aggressive conservative leadership Ken Paxton brought to the Attorney General’s office. Texas Gun Rights believes that fighter is Chip Roy” McNutt stated.

The Lies Being Spread About Chip Roy, and the Truth

Lie: Chip Roy voted to impeach President Trump.
Truth: Chip Roy voted NO on both Trump impeachments. The record is clear.

Lie: Chip Roy supported Liz Cheney.
Truth: Chip defended her right to vote her conscience, then immediately called for her removal as Conference Chair after she attacked Trump’s place in the Republican Party. Roy even ran to replace her. Harriet Hageman, who defeated Cheney, has endorsed Chip Roy.

Lie: Chip Roy is at odds with President Trump.
Truth: President Trump has not endorsed anyone in this race. But just days before the March 3 primary, Trump gave Chip Roy a public shoutout in Corpus Christi, saying Chip was “doing a good job.” Trump has publicly mentioned Chip in this race, and it was positive.

Lie: Chip Roy was blocking Trump’s agenda.
Truth: Many of the old attacks come from moments when Chip was holding out because weak Republicans were caving too easily and accepting watered-down deals. Chip’s pressure helped make weak bills better and forced stronger conservative wins.

Lie: Chip Roy supports amnesty.
Truth: Chip Roy authored the Texas Border Plan, helped drive the fight for serious border security, and has opposed amnesty. The attacks are based on twisted context and campaign spin.

Lie: Chip Roy failed to fight radical transgender policies targeting children.
Truth: Roy helped lead congressional efforts to expose and oppose these procedures, including targeting Texas hospitals accused of ignoring state bans.

Lie: Chip Roy called MAGA supporters names.
Truth: Roy’s campaign says the comment was directed at a specific self-described influencer berating his staff over a false Ukraine funding claim, not MAGA voters generally. Roy apologized for the language, not for standing up to lies.

Lie: Chip Roy is a RINO.
Truth: Chip Roy is consistently ranked as one of the most conservative members of Congress and one of the strongest pro-gun voices in America. The RINO smear is laughable.

Chip-in below to help Texas Gun Rights EXPOSE anti-gun candidates and identify pro-gun champions to defend your rights without compromise.

ATF Could Soon Allow Guns Shipped to Your Door — But There’s a Catch

TXGR Staff — Mon, 11 May 2026 19:21:06 +0000

For the first time in decades, the ATF is proposing several rule changes that would actually reduce federal burdens on gun owners instead of expanding them.

That alone is a major shift.

Under one of the proposed rules, lawful gun buyers could eventually complete much of the firearm purchase process remotely — including electronic Form 4473 paperwork, identity verification, and background checks — with certain firearms potentially shipping directly to buyers instead of requiring in-person pickup at a gun store.

Compared to the nonstop gun confiscation agenda pushed by the Biden Administration, this proposal is a major short-term win for gun owners.

For years, gun owners have been forced to navigate an outdated federal bureaucracy designed to treat the exercise of a constitutional right like a parole hearing.

But gun owners also need to keep one thing firmly in mind: this is not the finish line; it is barely the first step.

A Win Today Could Become a Weapon Tomorrow

The media is already melting down over the possibility that Americans could lawfully purchase firearms through a more modernized process.

That reaction alone tells you how deeply the gun confiscation lobby fears the normalization of firearm ownership.

But while this proposal may streamline parts of the process, it leaves the larger unconstitutional federal gun control machine fully intact.

Gun owners would still be subject to federal background checks, trapped inside the Brady Act system, tracked through federal transfer paperwork, and dependent on federal permission to exercise a constitutional right.

“The ATF slightly reducing burdens that should never have existed in the first place is not some grand act of generosity,” said Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights.

“The Second Amendment does not require Americans to ask the federal government for permission before purchasing firearms.”

There’s another major issue buried inside these ATF “modernization” proposals that gun owners cannot afford to overlook.

The same digital 4473 systems being celebrated today could become a powerful weapon for future anti-gun administrations, making it easier for government officials to identify gun owners, trace firearm purchases, and build the infrastructure necessary for confiscation efforts.

As gun owners know all too well, every government database eventually becomes a tool for abuse — and eventually, confiscation.

That’s why gun owners must keep their eyes on the bigger fight.

The Real Goal: Dismantle the Federal Gun Control Machine

Texas Gun Rights says the ultimate objective must remain clear: Abolish the ATF. Repeal the National Firearms Act. Repeal the Brady Act. And dismantle every unconstitutional federal gun control scheme piece by piece.

Anything less simply leaves the structure intact for the next anti-gun administration to weaponize again.

“We’ll absolutely take every rollback of ATF power we can get,” McNutt said.

“But gun owners should never confuse temporary regulatory relief with actual restoration of their rights. The end goal has to be dismantling the entire federal gun control apparatus before it’s turned against the American people again.”

That’s the lesson gun owners should have learned over the last decade.

Every time Republicans slightly scale back federal overreach, Democrats return to power and weaponize the same bureaucracy to push even more aggressive gun confiscation policies.

Which is why the answer is not simply appointing better bureaucrats, rather eliminating the unconstitutional machinery itself.

The Fight Is Far From Over

The gun confiscation lobby is already preparing lawsuits and political attacks to stop this proposal before it even takes effect.

At the same time, Democrats in Congress are pushing sweeping federal Red Flag laws, expanded gun bans, and nationwide confiscation schemes through legislation like S. 4339, H.R. 7599, and S. 889.

That means the battle over the Second Amendment is entering a new phase:
one side wants to modernize and restore freedom; the other wants to weaponize the system for nationwide gun confiscation.

Texas Gun Rights warns gun owners not to confuse limited regulatory relief with actual freedom.

Because this fight was never about one rule, it’s about whether Americans will remain free citizens — or subjects managed by a federal gun control bureaucracy.

Chip in today to help Texas Gun Rights fight to abolish the ATF and dismantle the federal gun confiscation machine once and for all.

Texas Court Could Gut Self-Defense Rights in Major New Case

TXGR Staff — Mon, 04 May 2026 15:13:06 +0000

A major legal fight is brewing in Texas, and the wrong decision could fundamentally weaken your right to defend yourself.

At the center of it is State v. Ballester, now before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA).

While the case hasn’t broken into national headlines yet, the stakes are enormous: whether long-standing self-defense protections will be upheld, or quietly rewritten in favor of prosecutors.

A Self-Defense Case That Should Have Been Clear

The facts are the kind that gun owners know all too well: a tense dispute escalates, multiple individuals confront a homeowner, and in a matter of seconds, a life-or-death decision has to be made.

Israel Ballester was acquitted of murder but convicted on two counts of aggravated assault after a late-night confrontation turned violent.

He never denied using his firearm. Like Kyle Rittenhouse, his defense was straightforward: he acted to protect himself and his family in the face of a perceived deadly threat.

But unlike Rittenhouse, the jury never got a fair chance to apply the law correctly.

Instead, prosecutors were allowed to distort one of the most critical limits on self-defense — “provocation” — and the jury was never told what that word actually means under Texas law.

The Legal Sleight of Hand That Changed the Outcome

For over a century, Texas law has been clear: “provocation” is not about who started an argument or who escalated a confrontation.

It is a narrow legal concept requiring proof that a defendant intentionally provoked an attack as a pretext to harm someone under the guise of self-defense.

That standard exists for a reason. Without it, any prosecutor can argue that a defender “provoked” their attacker simply by being present, speaking up, or refusing to back down.

That’s exactly what happened here.

With no legal definition provided, prosecutors argued that Ballester “provoked everything,” essentially inviting the jury to treat the word as meaning whatever they thought it meant. And it worked.

The jury rejected his self-defense claim.

The appeals court later overturned the conviction, recognizing that the jury had been misled on a core issue that went to the heart of the case.

But now, instead of correcting the error, the government is doubling down.

A Direct Threat to Self-Defense Law

The State has asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to take up the case — and in doing so, is positioning this case as a vehicle to weaken the long-standing definition of provocation.

If the court accepts that invitation, the consequences could be severe.

Self-defense would no longer depend on whether you faced an immediate and unlawful threat.

Instead, it could hinge on whether a prosecutor can convince a jury that you somehow “provoked” the situation, based on a vague and subjective standard.

We’ve seen this shift before.

In the Rittenhouse case, the argument wasn’t just about what happened in the moment, it was about whether he “should have been there” at all.

That same mindset, turning the focus away from the attacker’s conduct and onto the defender’s behavior, could become embedded in Texas law if the CCA gets this wrong.

And once that door is opened, it won’t close.

Texas Gun Rights Is Taking Action

Texas Gun Rights and the Texas Gun Rights Foundation are stepping in and preparing an amicus brief in the Ballester case to defend the integrity of self-defense law.

“This case is a direct threat to the fundamental right of self-defense,” said Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights.

“If ‘provocation’ is stretched beyond its legal meaning, then any law-abiding citizen can be second-guessed after the fact and denied the right to defend themselves. We will not allow the courts to gut self-defense protections without a fight.”

For years, the gun confiscation agenda has worked to restrict your rights through legislation.

Now the battle is shifting to the courts, where rights can be narrowed, reinterpreted, and weakened without a single vote being cast.

That’s exactly what’s on the line in State v. Ballester.

If the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals gets this wrong, it won’t just affect one case. It will change how every future self-defense claim is judged—and who gets the benefit of the doubt when seconds matter most.

Texas Gun Rights is stepping into that fight — because your rights don’t defend themselves.

Chip in today to help Texas Gun Rights defend your right to self-defense… before the courts gut it for good.

TXGR Races to Expose Candidates as Texas Runoff Enters Final Stretch

TXGR Staff — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 20:02:26 +0000

With early voting underway in local elections and the May 26 runoff approaching, Texas Gun Rights is warning that the fight for the Second Amendment in Texas is entering a critical window — and most voters are being fed half the story.

The political establishment is flooding key races with polished mail pieces and vague “pro-gun” messaging designed to blur the lines between real fighters and political pretenders.

And in a low-turnout runoff, that strategy works — unless it’s exposed in time.

“They’re Hoping Gun Owners Don’t Look Too Closely”

Texas Gun Rights President Chris McNutt says what’s happening right now is deliberate.

“The establishment is counting on confusion. They’re hoping gun owners don’t look too closely at these candidates’ records until after the votes are cast.”

“Because if voters actually knew who stood with them and who has a history of cutting deals, a lot of these races wouldn’t even be close.”

That’s why TXGR has been ramping up its voter education efforts across the state.

Even the Houston Chronicle — no ally of the Second Amendment — acknowledged that Texas Gun Rights has been driving the pressure campaign exposing John Cornyn’s record on gun rights.

Clear Fighters, If Voters See Them

The contrast in these races is real, but only if voters hear about it before casting a ballot.

Candidates like Congressman Chip Roy have built a national reputation as unapologetic defenders of the Second Amendment.

“Chip Roy doesn’t just vote the right way, he leads,” McNutt said. “He’s one of the few in Washington actually pushing to roll back gun control instead of managing it.”

In the Texas House, Briscoe Cain has been at the center of major pro-gun victories.

“Briscoe Cain helped make Texas a Constitutional Carry state and led the charge to stop red flag gun confiscation laws,” McNutt said. “That’s what real leadership looks like.”

And grassroots leaders like Bo French are drawing increasing support from gun owners tired of establishment politics.

“Bo French represents the kind of no-compromise mindset that’s driving this movement,” McNutt said. “He’s not trying to play both sides, and gun owners respect that.”

All three candidates — Roy, Cain, and French — have been endorsed by Texas Gun Rights PAC, along with Attorney General Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate runoff.

Cornyn’s Record Still Looms Large

While TXGR says the focus is on educating voters about all candidates, Senator John Cornyn’s record continues to be a central issue.

“John Cornyn has spent years helping the gun confiscation agenda move forward in Washington, then trying to talk his way out of it back home,” McNutt said.

“And now after more than $100 million spent trying to save his career, Texas is closer to losing this seat than it should ever be.”

TXGR argues that Cornyn’s actions have not only divided Republican voters, but created an opening that Democrats are already working to exploit.

A Race That Will Be Decided Now

With early voting underway, TXGR says the outcome of these races will be determined in the coming days.

Because in runoff elections, turnout is low and timelines are short.

“Whoever defines these candidates right now is going to win,” McNutt said. “And if gun owners don’t get the truth before they vote, they won’t get another chance.”

That’s why Texas Gun Rights says it is pushing aggressively to reach as many voters as possible before the May 26 deadline.

Because once ballots are cast, the opportunity is gone.

Chip in now to help Texas Gun Rights expose weak candidates, support proven fighters, and defend the Second Amendment without compromise before it’s too late.

ATF “Reform” Is a Trap — And Gun Owners Shouldn’t Fall for It

TXGR Staff — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 20:01:04 +0000

xgrThe Senate just confirmed ATF Director Robert Cekada to lead the agency permanently — and within hours, he and Attorney General Todd Blanche were already moving to save it.

They’re calling it a “new era of reform.”

After years of aggressive enforcement, shifting rules, and outright attacks on the Second Amendment, they’re now talking about rolling things back, reducing burdens, and working with gun owners instead of against them.

Sounds good on paper.

But gun owners would be making a serious mistake if they take this at face value.

Because this isn’t about restoring your rights.

It’s about saving the ATF.

This Isn’t Reform, It’s Damage Control

The Department of Justice’s move to roll back Biden-era ATF rules didn’t happen by accident.

It happened because gun owners applied relentless pressure — petitions, phone calls and activism — forcing the issue onto the agenda.

That’s a good thing. But none of that changes the core problem:

The same agency still exists.
Many of the same laws are still on the books.
The same power is still in their hands.

And if that power remains, it will be used again.

As Texas Gun Rights President Chris McNutt put it:

“The ATF isn’t broken, it’s doing exactly what it was designed to do: enforce unconstitutional gun control. The window for reform has passed. The only solution is to abolish the ATF before it’s weaponized again.”

“Modernization” Means More Control

Some of the most dangerous parts of this so-called reform aren’t the rollbacks. They’re the changes being framed as improvements.

The ATF says it wants to modernize. Expand electronic recordkeeping. Streamline compliance. Move into the digital age.

But gun owners have seen this playbook before.

In Washington, “modernization” doesn’t mean freedom. It means building systems that are easier to track, easier to monitor, and easier to expand later.

Digital records don’t stay limited. They grow. They connect. They get used.

And once that infrastructure is built, it doesn’t go away.

What’s being created today in the name of efficiency can be weaponized tomorrow in the name of enforcement.

The Problem Isn’t the ATF’s Behavior

At the same time, the ATF is talking about aligning with federal law and clarifying its rules.

But from a no-compromise perspective, that completely misses the point.

If the underlying laws are unconstitutional, aligning with them isn’t a victory.

It’s just enforcing bad law more efficiently.

Gun owners don’t need clearer guidance on how their rights are restricted. They don’t need a smoother process for complying with federal gun control. And they certainly don’t need a kinder, gentler ATF.

Because that’s the real danger.

A more polished, less controversial ATF is harder to fight. It lowers the temperature. It reduces public outrage. It gives politicians cover to say, “See? The system is working.”

But it isn’t.

The problem has never been that the ATF was too aggressive or too confusing.

The problem is that it exists at all to enforce laws that should never have been passed in the first place.

Gun Owners Should Demand More Than Reform

Texas Gun Rights isn’t calling for tweaks, reforms, or better management of the same broken system.

They’re fighting to abolish it.

Because the reality is simple: the ATF has abused its power for decades. And every time gun owners are told that “this time will be different,” the cycle repeats.

And the moment the political winds shift — the moment the Left regains control of Washington — that same agency will be weaponized again.

Stronger. Smarter. More efficient.

And if there was any doubt about Washington’s true intentions, it should be gone now. Even as these so-called “reforms” are announced, the Senate has confirmed a career ATF insider to lead the bureau — a clear signal that the political class isn’t interested in dismantling the agency, but entrenching it.

That’s the endgame of “reform.”

Not freedom.

Control.

That’s why now is the time to push harder, not back off.

Because if these reforms prove anything, it’s that the ATF knew it was pushing too far — and now it’s trying to pull back just enough to survive.

Gun owners shouldn’t let that happen.

Sign the petition to Abolish the ATF and Repeal the NFA today.

And if you’re ready to take this fight even further, chip in to help Texas Gun Rights keep the pressure on — because the only real reform is restoring your rights without compromise.